USA, CA: The Good Wolf Brewing Company open in Truckee since November

The first beers flowed from the taps at The Good Wolf Brewing Company in November, but owners Matt and Heidi Petyo had already long since found a place in the Truckee community, the Sierra Sun reported on December 27.

The husband and wife moved to Truckee in April with plans of opening a brewery in the area, and since settling in, they say they’ve been embraced by the town.

“We were amazed at how quickly we were able to find a community,” said Heidi, who works as an archaeologist in the area, while also pursuing a Ph.D. from the United Kingdom’s Durham University. “Everyone seems really good at networking you in. There were people that knew our names before we’d ever even met them. It was a nice change.”

The two grew up in California, and met just as Matt was transitioning from a career in animation to brewing. At the time they were living in the Bay Area.

“I decided I hated making money,” Matt joked. “So I got back into brewing.”

Matt had worked in his early 20s at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., and longed for a change after working several years at animation companies in the Bay Area.

“With brewing it’s a physical work day, and then you’re tired and at the end of the day you have 10 barrels of beer,” said Matt. “It’s like this discreet thing, and I love that about it. It’s sort of a perfect marriage between art and science for me.”

Nervously, he approached his future wife about switching careers.

“I just remember he came to me one day,” she said. “And was like, ‘I don’t think I want to do animation anymore. I think I want to brew.’”

After a week-long stint as an intern at a brewery in the Bay Area, he found a full-time position at the now closed Wildcard Brewing Company. Later, he transitioned to Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle, and the two were married shortly after. Then while on a trip to Texas, the couple fell in love with the city of Austin, and decided to move. Matt began working at Oskar Blues Brewery, and later decided he wanted to open his own business.

“We originally planned on opening in Austin,” he said. “We had things all set up, and then the Camp Fire happened … my family is from Paradise, so we decided to open up the search and see if we could move a little closer to home.”

The two found out about Tahoe Mountain Brewing Co. moving from its location on Industrial Way in Truckee. The deal for the location also included all of Tahoe Mountain’s brewing equipment as well, and the Petyos jumped on it.

After months of preparation, cleaning equipment, and brewing their first beers, the pair opened The Good Wolf Brewing Company on Nov. 30, debuting with a pair of beers on tap.

The 7.3% alcohol-by-volume Neon Rainbow is an IPA with tropical aromas, notes of peach of pineapple, and guava.

“For me it was like, what are my absolute favorite hops,” said Matt on creating the beer. “I knew if something went wrong, the hops would definitely help carry the product. Luckily it turned out really well.”

The brewery also has its Fern Hill pale ale, which has flavors of white wine grapes, passion fruit, and subtle notes of strawberries.

The brewery itself takes its name from a proverb in which a grandfather tells his grandson there are two wolves inside of everyone. One represents evil and the other good, and according to the proverb, the one that wins is the one that gets fed.

The Good Wolf will soon have more beers on tap, according to Matt, including a stout, a porter, and later, a lager.

As far as style of beer, Matt said he doesn’t necessarily have a preference — as long as it’s done right.

“A good brewer should be able to make any kind of beer. I love well made beers of any style — sours, old-school beers like dad beers and uncle beers, new world hop beers — I love them all. That’s one of the joys of brewing is there’s depth to each beer and you can get as deep as you want to.”

The Good Wolf Brewing Company is at 10990 Industrial Way, Suite B103, Truckee.

01 January, 2020